Business ProfileforL & B Universal, Inc.

From Customer-Centric Company to Profit-Gouging Customer Nightmare in Three Years I bought a new Carrier HVAC system from L&B Universal in in 2014, under a 10-year parts warranty. All went well for the first three years and I received good customer service. Then something changed dramatically for the worse. In January 2018, after the usual periodic maintenance services had been performed by L&B Universal in the fall of 2017, and while I was on vacation, the unit blew its fuses, causing it to shut down and the water lines throughout my house to freeze and burst. This led to total Inundation of the living level and lower level of my home, making it uninhabitable for 2 weeks and resulting in over $25,000 of property damage. While L&B Universal never admitted this, according to the general contractor hired to restore my home, the blown heating system fuses were most likely caused by a failed blower motor or other maintenance issue leading to overheating. In the fall of 2020, only two years after the home had finally been repaired and the Carrier unit had again been serviced by L&B Universal and was still under the parts warranty, but after the labor warranty had expired, I paid about $150 for replacing a capacitor. Then, on 11/22/2021, during scheduled maintenance service, for which I was charged $90.00, the technician determined that the fan motor on the outside unit needed to be replaced and I was charged the outrageous amount of $500.00 for the replacement, which took 15-30 minutes to install. I had the technician call his supervisor to tell him that I was paying the $500.00 only under duress because I could not afford another flooded house as in January 2018. While in my home, the technician also, for unknown reasons, moved my washer, which contained a full load of wet laundry, and my dryer, out about 1 foot from the wall against which they had been installed. This caused the washer spin cycle to stop working. I reported this to the L&B sales manager, who claimed that the technician denied having moved the washer or dryer. I invited him to come out to verify what I had reported, but he failed to respond to the invitation. The sales manager also refused to refer my complaint about the outrageous labor charge of $500.00 for 15-30 minutes of work to the L&B project manager/general manger or president/VP, but instead offered me first a $50.00, then a $100.00 rebate, both of which I turned down. The going rate for HVAC work in my area is $75.00 -$150.00 per hour. My advice: Hire L&B Universal only if you want to have questionable and/or useless ”maintenance” work done, to be ripped off for the “privilege,” and then wish to risk a catastrophic system failure on top of it all. I was lucky that I had home owner’s insurance when I had my HVAC nightmare in 2018.